Executive Summary

• This week, Deborah Weinswig discusses the slowing of growth in two aspects of Amazon’s retail business, and wonders whether that might be the reason the online giant is bringing one-day delivery to the US.
• Consumer spending in the US picked up in March while inflation eased to a one-year low, reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s patient stance on interest rates.
• The UK’s competition regulator blocked Sainsbury’s proposed £7.3 billion ($9.4 billion) buyout of Walmart’s Asda, leading the grocery retailers to call off the merger.
• Alibaba formally launched the three new versions of its smart speaker Tmall Genie: one built into a smart makeup mirror, another with a screen for streaming video aimed at Chinese families, and a third that can pair with a dashboard camera.